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I recently learned about the Yamaha 925 series of trumpet mouthpieces -- these are made entirely of .925 silver, and are not the usual silver-plated mouthpieces.

What would be the benefit of having a solid silver mouthpiece?

Does (has?) there exist a solid silver tuba mouthpiece? I realize it'd be expensive for the raw materials (silver @ about $20/ounce), but it's not like $300+ mouthpieces don't exist. Is there anything to this?

Just a thought on a slow Friday morning...

Terrible idea, you'd forever be wishing you'd gone for solid gold.

HA!

The benefit is the same as solid stainless: no wear-through of the plating. I wonder how durable it would be, however, as sterling silver is still softer than brass. I can't imagine there would be any noticeable difference in tonality or response.

Funny!

So then, what's the purpose of the trumpet ones? Smaller instrument/mouthpiece makes the minute differences more perceptible? Or just a bunch of crazy trumpet players thinking it actually makes a difference?

bort wrote:a bunch of crazy trumpet players

How likely does that sound?

Curmudgeon wrote:

bloke wrote:

bort wrote:What would be the benefit of having a solid silver mouthpiece?

...the ability to hide one's wealth in something that otherwise appears to be nearly worthless...(??)

A friend from years gone by that played trombone named Mike Suter was once mugged. Having had little to no cash on him, he credited having his gold plated trombone mouthpieces on him at the time. He told the scumbag robbing that he no cash and the guy went nuts. He went on to tell the jerk that he did have some gold on him that they could have. Handing over the mouthpieces, they ran off and left Mike alone.

I remember a time back in the 60's when I was walking to my car after a late night gig on the north side of Chicago. Three local lads approached me and demanded money, then noticed the tuba on my shoulder.
"Aw, forget it man, you wouldn't have nothin, you're just a musician."

Ken Herrick wrote: I remember a time back in the 60's when I was walking to my car after a late night gig on the north side of Chicago. Three local lads approached me and demanded money, then noticed the tuba on my shoulder.
"Aw, forget it man, you wouldn't have nothin, you're just a musician."

Funny, and true.

Perhaps he should of had a trombone case like one of these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBmwUTjAYes" target="_blank

One maker of horn mouthpieces said the solid silver models had a deeper and fuller sound, but also that response was slower.

Klaus

iiipopes wrote:I can't imagine there would be any noticeable difference in tonality or response.

If SS mpc mfg's claim that one of the benefits of 304 stainless steel (density: 8.03 g/cm^3) vs brass (8.4-8.73 g/cm^3) is a quicker response is valid (and many players who have tried SS at least claim they perceive a difference), I would expect an even more noticeable difference for sterling silver (10.3 g/cm^3).